Film Mode Entertainment Serves Up a Thrilling Delicacy with
FEAST OR FAMINE
Featuring the First-Named Celebrity Chef, Marco Pierre White
It’s the real-life hunger games when celebrity chef, Marco Pierre White, who has trained the best of the best, including Mario Batali, Heston Blumenthal, Shannon Bennett, Gordon Ramsay and Curtis Stone, gives insights into Angelina and her Chef’s relentless pursuit of the highest accolade in the culinary world – a Michelin Star
BERLIN (February 16, 2023) – Film Mode Entertainment and Anna Barbara Films present FEAST OR FAMINE, a feature-length documentary presented by legendary Michelin-starred chef, Marco Pierre White, about a London restaurant fighting to earn their first Michelin star. The new, thrilling, topical documentary plunges into the depths of real life “hunger games” at London’s world renowned fine-dining restaurant, Angelina and their relentless pursuit of the highest accolade in the culinary world – a Michelin Star. The stakes are as high as can be in the culinary world and even higher with the fast-approaching 2023 Michelin star award announcements for the UK set for March 27th.
Directed by Adrian Choa (VICE Media) FEAST OR FAMINE will follow the quest of head chef of East London’s popular ANGELINA, Usman Haider along with co-owners, Joshua Owens-Baigler, and Amar Takhar as they risk everything to earn their first Michelin Star. The real treat is the running interviews and commentary from celebrity chef, Marco Pierre White(Hell’s Kitchen, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations), dubbed “the first celebrity chef” and the “Enfant terrible” of the UK restaurant scene who, at age 33, became the first British chef to be awarded three Michelin stars and has trained notable chefs such as Mario Batali, Heston Blumenthal, Shannon Bennett, Gordon Ramsay and Curtis Stone. FEAST OR FAMINE is a story of performing beyond human capability to achieve something that is extraordinary and to keep that level up daily. The film began principal photography this month.
A Race To The Finish Line: March 27, 2023 – Michelin Star Awards Announced
Angelina is primarily a collaborative operation. The idea that a head chef is the brand in themselves is arguably an archaic concept as far as Michelin is concerned. One must remember that Michelin awards stars to restaurants as a whole and not to the individual chefs at the helm. It’s currently a race to the finish line with this year’s Michelin star award announcements for the UK set for March 27, 2023.
“Feast or Famine combines everything we strive to achieve for our partners, entertainment, incredible characters and a world class meal. We’re thrilled that producers Steve, Michael and Che believe in us, and we are confident Adrian is going to serve up a truly delectable treat for audiences,” said Clay Epstein, President of Film Mode Entertainment, whose multiple impressive credits include high-profile, award-winning feature documentaries like IT MIGHT GET LOUD, BLINDSIGHT and FUEL.
“Through the lens of one new, experimental restaurant’s earnest endeavour to get their first star, we achieve a rare insight into the world of Michelin, the culinary world’s unashamed barometer of taste. At the helm of the film, we will have none other than the original rock ‘n’ roll celebrity chef Marco Pierre White, famous for, amongst other things, giving back his three stars,” said director Adrian Choa.
Feast or Famine: The Real-Life Hunger Games at Angelina
Usman Haider, head chef at East London’s trendy ANGELINA, has worked beyond exhaustion, sacrificed his personal life, and weathered cultural bias in relentless pursuit of one of the highest awards in the culinary world – a Michelin Star. With support from the restaurant’s ambitious co-owners, Joshua Owens-Baigler and Amar Takhar, Haider will do anything to achieve the goal. Featuring celebrity chef Marco Pierre White, best known for being the first British three-star Michelin chef only to return the stars years later in protest, is providing expert insight into the world of fine dining and the Michelin system. FEAST OR FAMINE explores what it really takes for a chef to be a star.
Star Power: How the Mysterious, Magical and Merciless Michelin Star Process Works
The Michelin stars are based on the Michelin Guides, a series of guidebooks that have been published since 1900. The Guide awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. The acquisition or loss of a star or stars can have dramatic effects on the success of a restaurant. One star = A very good restaurant in its category (Une très bonne table dans sa catégorie), Two stars = Excellent cooking, worth a detour (Table excellente, mérite un détour), Three Stars = Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey (Une des meilleures tables, vaut le voyage). The stars are awarded by an anonymous board of inspectors that are employees of Michelin, and, above all, are customers first. Testing restaurants in complete anonymity in order to ensure that they do not receive any special treatment is essential to the credibility of the Michelin Guide.
Michelin Guide Inspector’s Core values include:
● Independence: Michelin Inspectors are employees of the Michelin Group only and are not linked to any other organizations. Inspectors always pay for their meals in full to ensure independence.
● Expertise: Inspectors are experts in the food, dining and hotel sectors with many years of experience working in the hospitality industry.
● Reliability: The different categories awarded by the guide are never the result of one inspector’s assessment. Michelin Stars are given by a collective of inspectors who visit the establishment multiple times.
● Passion: What would be the point of so much work and such a strict approach if our inspectors weren’t passionate about food? Most Michelin Inspectors have either worked in the hospitality business or cooked in kitchens themselves – rest assured our reviews are written with passion, integrity and knowledge.
● Quality: Any restaurant can be reviewed for our guides as long as the establishment is deemed high quality based on Michelin’s 5 restaurant rating criteria (below).
Michelin Inspector’s 5 Restaurant Rating Criteria include:
1. Quality of products
2. Mastery of flavour and cooking techniques
3. The personality of the chef represented in the dining experience
4. Harmony of the flavours
5. Consistency between inspectors’ visits
What world’s most famous Michelin Star Chefs have to say, starting with Marco Pierre White:
“Nine out of ten English chefs have their names on their chests. Who do they think they are? They’re dreamers. They’re jokes. Just ask yourself how many chefs in this country have Michelin stars and how many have their names on their jackets…we’re all still learning.” ~Marco Pierre White – First-ever 3-Michelin Star Chef from England
“I cannot teach anybody how to cook. All I can do is show them, share methods with them.” ~Marco Pierre White – First-ever 3-Michelin Star Chef from England
“Everyone loves Michelin. It’s a mark of achievement that is recognized throughout the world, and it’s always thrilling to receive one. But I always tell my staff to aim higher… I ask everyone to imagine there is a fourth star and to strive for that.” – Carme Ruscalleda – 3-Michelin Star Chef from Spain
“I could [regain the third Michelin star] by being very focused, by cultivating my intuitions, by knowing where I wanted to go and being aware of my strengths and weaknesses, to build something and become more self-confident.” – Anne-Sophie Pic – 3-Michelin Star Chef from France
FEAST OR FAMINE is a breakthrough cinematic experience that takes audiences directly into the gourmet kitchen and dining room of Angelina and follows the mysterious and grueling process of achieving a Michelin Star, which can “make” a restaurant and put it on the map.
Usman Haider of Angelina will be the first Pakistani head chef to win a Michelin star. From humble beginnings in Pakistan, Usman moved to the UK in 2011 to begin working his way up the kitchens of London before moving to Leeds to work in ‘The Man Behind the Curtain’, which currently holds 1 Michelin star. He enjoyed stints at Japanese restaurant ‘Issho’ under Benjamin Orpwood who now works under the Gordon Ramsay Group and sushi restaurant ‘The Lucky Cat’ before returning to London to work with Angelina, where he is now the head chef.
Childhood friends and co-owners of Angelina Josh Owens-Baigler and Amar Takhar set up the restaurant in January 2019 and have worked tirelessly to climb the ranks of the world of fine-dining. They have since received glowing reviews from London’s top food critics and won themselves an entry into the Michelin Guide. Although they are yet to win a star, they believe that 2023 will be their year.
The film comes at a time when excitement and popularity for culinary arts and food is at an all-time high, and it is clearly evident via statistics relating to the overwhelmingly positive reception of films and television shows of a similar ilk that they have transformed the way in which the world views the art of eating and cooking.
With hit documentary films, feature narratives, and television shows that have been on an exponential rise over the past decade like Hell’s Kitchen, Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Delicieux, The Menu, El Bulli, and even the hit Netflix series, Emily In Paris, to name just a few, audiences around the globe continually crave the true, glamorous and gritty insider’s view into the intricate, exciting and often controversial details of how the art of making and eating food happen and continually evolve.
Angelina is a fine dining experience that merges the techniques and flavours of Italian and Japanese cuisines to create distinctive and crowd-pleasing omakase and kaiseki tasting menus served in a warm, unfussy setting. Angelina pays homage to both cuisines while challenging perceptions of what Japanese and Italian-inspired dishes look (and taste) like. They are passionate about sourcing the finest standout ingredients to create unique, thought-out dishes using flavour combinations that challenge and excite guests.
Here’s what some of the top food critics and publications around the world are saying about Angelina:
“Curious and thoughtful. A marriage of Italian and Japanese cuisine could so easily be a disaster, but here it is a happy union.” – Jay Rayner, The Guardian
“Japanese and Italian may seem unlikely bedfellows, but chefs in the Land of the Rising Sun have been perfecting paper-thin pizza crusts and mastering the art of al dente for years.” – Time Out London
“If you can convey the excellence of a meal in oohs and aahs, then this was truly two hours’ worth with some whoas thrown in. It’s friendly, easygoing yet stylish and streamlined. Angelina in London’s trendy Dalston comes up trumps.” – Sharon Livingston, The Travel Magazine
Producers are Michael Boccalini, Che Grant, Steve Hodgetts.
Executive Producers include Andrzej Kowalski, Jesse Scarf, Richard Kowalski, Andrew Tuck, Sharon McGarth, Douglas Mason, Clay Epstein, Michael Boccalini, Che Grant, Steve Hodgetts and Megan Merati.
Film Mode Entertainment continues to bridge the gap between filmmakers and audiences and raises the genre-bar for feature films by nurturing high-quality, engaging commercially viable movies like FEAST OR FAMINE and bringing them to the global marketplace with great success.
Film Mode is handling global rights on FEAST OR FAMINE.
For more information, visit www.
Anna Barbara Films produces commercially-